Raised in an Evangelical household, Halford left Dallas for college and a career in journalism in New York City. As her work and friendships took her into a more secular world, Halford found her Evangelicalism evolving in interesting directions. Yet she continued to read My Utmost for His Highest, a classic Christian text. To understand Utmost's unique ability to bridge her two worlds, she quit her job to delve more deeply into the background of the devotional, wrestling with who Scottish Evangelical preacher Oswald Chambers really was, what ideas informed his teaching and beliefs, and why the book means so much to her.